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to the compassionate nature of the Deity as worthless in the way of argument , and as a very unfair resource of controversy . "—P 37 . We are reminded of once hearing a Calvinistic divine of the Church of Scotland declare from the pulpit , that mercy , unlike justice , was not an essential attribute of the Almighty .
Let not our author ' s ' * universal redemption , " however , be identified with universal restoration . " I have never , " he says , p . 38 , " confounded the question of the salvability either of Heathens or Christians with that of their final salvation . * This , at any rate , lies beyond the " cravings of his liberality , " to use the British Critic ' s expression . On the contrary , our author is particularly careful . lest this conclusion should be fastened
on his premises . " It is sufficient ** ( does he not then wish for more ? Is not this at least the dictate of Christian affection ?) " that all mankind are drawn hy the atonement of Christ into the capability of being saved ; but to assert , that because he is the Saviour of all men in this sense , he will be
the Saviour of all hereafter , this it never came into my thoughts to imagine . * P . 39 . He may , we believe , justly claim the names of " Barrow and Taylor , of Tillotson , Clarke , Sherlock , and Butler , " and many other competent judges of the meaning of Scripture , as entertaining no doubts whether the scheme of Christ ' s
redemption relates to all mankind . We believe that he would find names equally valuable , though , perhaps , not equally valued , both in and out of the Establishment , who have been so far from never thinking of an advance on that doctrine , that they have found their satisfaction and happiness in cherishing the delightful sentiment that as all suffering under the
Divine Government , as far as we can judge , is remedial , it may justly be concluded that the sufferings of the future life , however intense , or however permanent , will be effectual to purify the sinner from his moral stain , and to qualify him for ultimate happiness by a powerful and severe discipline . In the midst of judgment God will remember mercy . But although our author perceives not this just conclusion , we think , to the
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doctrine of Universal Redemption , we are happy , that , amidst the prevalence of a mystic and intolerant theology , some are found capable of undeceiving the minds of the people ; revolting , as our author does , from such language as that used by a speaker at the Church Missionary Society at Bath , who " reviewed the millions of uuconverted Heathen as
so many individuals shut up in a house which is in flames , or as passengers in a vessel perishing at sea . " We are not surprised , from the postscript , to find Dr . Wardlaw , of Glasgow , quoted in favour of the merciful view of this tremendous question .
" We lay it down without hesitation as the doctrine of Scripture , as it is also the evident diotate of reason , that respousibility is according to privilege ; that the punishment of offences by the judgment of a righteous God will be exactly proportioned to the extent in which the means have been enjoyed of the knowledge both of duty and of the obligations to perform it . " With us it is a very inferior consideration whether this opinion coincide with the incomparable Institutes of Calvin , or whether any , the smallest doubts of the contrary dogma were expressed at the Synod of Dort . P . 57 .
The second of these pamphlets is the production of a young , but vigorous mind , not long since bound in Calviuistic thraldom , but now exercising its private judgment in the interpretation of the Sacred Volume , with much ingenuity and with some success . The three
questions iuvolve a large portion of curious and important inquiry , which we doubt not will lead many of the readers of this treatise to cultivate the habit of personal investigation . Our limits will not at present allow of a detailed account of our author ' s speculations . We were struck with the considerable
resemblances between some of his interpretations and those of the late Mr . Cappe , the more remarkable since the writer has been trained in a very different school . The writer is minister of a Scotch Church at Liverpool , and was lately oblige ( to undergo a sort of prosecution , at the instauce of a synod of hi * church , for alleged heterodoxy .
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Critical Notices . 485
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 485, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/53/
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